Sheet aligning conveyer



Dec. 15, 1931. A. w. WERNER SHEET ALIGNING CONVEYER Filed June 24, 1929 INVENTOR. M la WM,

JATTORNEYJ Patented Dec. 15, 1931 PATENT oFFIcE ARTHUR W. WERNER, OF MILWAUKEE, WIsco'NsIN, ASSIGNOR r KIEGKHEFER coN- TAINER COMPANY, or MILWAUKEE, WIsooNsIN, A CORPORATION or ,MAINE' SHEET ALIGNINe coNvEYER,

Application filed June 24,

This invention relates to'improvements in sheet aligning'conveyers.

In conveyors for flat sheets of material, the sheets are often fed to the conveyer in an 1ndiscriminate manner with the result that the sheets are in an uneven and disorderly arrangement on the conveyer. If the sheets are'being conducted by the conveyer to a machine to be operated on thereby, it is necessary that the sheets be aligned onthe conveyer prior to their entrance to the machine so that they will be fed thereto in a line and in un1-. form position. I

It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to provide a sheet material conveyer having means thereon for automatically aligning the sheets of material being I carried therealong.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sheet material aligning device for conveyers which will automatically align the sheets by crowding the same toward and against a side rail of the conveyer.

A further object of the invention is to pro- 0 vide a sheet material aligning device. with which any form of sheet material conveyer may be readilyequipped without any ma terial alteration thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sheet aligning conveyer which is of very simple construction, is inexpensive to manufacture and install, is strong and durable, and is well adapted for the purposes described. a

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists of the improved sheet aligning conveyer, and its parts and combinations as set forth in the claim, and all equivalents thereof.

In the accompanying drawings in which the same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the views Fig. 1 is a plan viewof the improved sheet aligning conveyer; V

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof and Fig. 3 is a detail sectional View taken line3 3 of Fig. 1. 7

Referring now 'more paticularly to the drawings'it will app'ear'that the numeral 6 indicates the conveyer table mounted on sup- 1929. Serial No. 373,330.

porting legs 7 and having a horizontal entrance station 8 and a horizontal delivery station 9 at opposite ends. The mid-portion of the table is formed with a sheet metal covering '10and along one side thereof is a lon- .gitudinal r'ailll; Transverse spaces 12 and 13 are provided between the ends of the covering and'the stations 8 and 9' and the upper portions of a pair of elongated, endless con- A,

veyer chains 14 run in spaced apartlongitudi- L nal slots 15 in the covering 10.

' For the purpose ofdriving the conveyer chalns 1 a pair of transverse shafts 16 and '17 arejournale d inthe table at opposite ends of the covering .10 and said shafts have fast thereon spaced sprocket wheels 18' and 19 about which the chains 14: extend. The shaft 16'has mounted fast on one end portion a pulley 20 which is connected by a belt 21 witha pulley 22 faston the drive shaft 23 of an electric motor 24. There are connected to the. conveyer chains at spaced intervals transverse flights or conveying elements 25 which are adapted to move along the top'surface ofthe covering 10.and push sheet material therealong.

There is secured to the side rail 11, intermediate the ends of the covering 10, an up- I standingbracket 26 carrying an inwardly, angularl'y extending arm 27 formed at its end witha bearing portion 28 in which is journaled a short shaft 29 carrying a roller 30 and said roller, as shown, is disposed at an r the'covering 10'. Theshaft 33 is1positively' driven and carries fast thereon a small sprocket wheel 36 engaged by achain 37.

The covering 10, adjacent the rollers 30jand 82 is provided'with a small slotted opening .38 through which theperipheries of said rollers engage each other. I

The mechanism just described constitutes What is known as a sheet crowder or aligner, and forwardly of said aligning mechanism is a duplication thereof including an upper angularly directed frictionally moved roller 39, and a lower positively driven roller whose shaft ll carries a sprocket wheel 4E2 engaged by the chain 37 for driving the shaft 33. Power is brought to the shaft 41 by a chain 43 connected to a sprocket Wheel 4K4 on the shaft 17 which is driven by the conveyer chains, and the chain 43 in turn drives a sprocket wheel 45 on the inner end of the shaft 41.

To hold the sheets of material flatly on the conveyer, a drag mechanism is provided which includes a rod 47 pivotally mounted over the'conveyer and transversely thereto, and longitudinal y adjustably mounted. on said rod are a pair of spaced drag fingers or arms 48 having their outer end portions slightly curved to permit the movement of sheet material thereunder. The drag fingers are yieldingly held in their downwardly directed engaging positions by springs 49 connected between cranks50 on the ends of the rod 47 and portions of the conveyer table 6.

In the use of the sheet aligning conveyer, the conveyer chains are driven through the means described and sheets of material are fed from the station 8 to the covering 10 and are engaged by the flights 25 and carried along. The sheets may be pushed onto the conveyer indiscriminately and to align all of the sheets so they will be delivered onto the station portion 9 in proper order and alignn'ient is the function of the crowding or aligning mechanisms previously described. The sheets must pass between the pairs of rollers 30-32 and 39-40 and said rollers being angularly disposed toward the side rail 11 of the table, and the driven rollers being rotated in a clock-wise direction in Fig. 3, the sheet material will be pushed or crowded thereby against the side rail 11, whereby the sheets carried by the conveyer will be properly aligned for delivery to another machine for further operations. The drag mechanism serves to hold the sheets firmly against the covering 10.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the improved sheet aligning conveyer is both simple and novel, and is well adapted for the purposes described.

Vhat is claimed as the invention is:

In a sheet material conveyer having a longitudinal rail along its conveying surface, an aligning device mounted thereadjacent, comprising a driven roller below the sheet material path to engage the undersurfaccs of sheets and directed toward said rail and at an angle to the longitudinal plane of the conveying surface, a bracket arm, and an upper free roller freely revolubly carried by said bracket arm parallel to said driven roller, 

